London close: Footsie slides lower
London's leading shares finished the day in the red after veering lower in afternoon as financials weighed on the market, coupled with a poor start on Wall Street.
Electrical retailer DSG International, which also owns Currys, jumped over 7% after it said it would beat consensus profit forecasts this year after a stronger than expected second half.
The group now expects pre-tax profit to be in a £312m to £318m range. Sales rose 8%, including a 4% like-for-like gain. UK sales in the second half rose by 5% in total and 3% like-for-like.
Insurer Old Mutual reported a strong start to the year as it posted an 11% rise in combined sales and a rise in funds under management during the first quarter. Shares in the group fell though as the figures still came in below expectations.
The financials were down at heel across the board with Royal & Sun Alliance and Man Group all featuring amongst the fallers.
Chemist chain Boots was upgraded to "equal-weight" from "under-weight" with a revised price target of 735p at Morgan Stanley as the broker said it assumes the Alliance UniChem merger will now proceed smoothly.
Credit Suisse started coverage on British Energy with a "neutral" recommendation and a 624p price target saying it prefers the stock to rival Drax as it seems to offer more upside potential.
Smiths was in trouble after ABN Amro cut the engineering group to 'sell' from 'hold' with a 900p target price, although Scottish & Southern Energy did better as Morgan Stanly upped the utility to 'outperform' with target up to 1,250p from 1,070p.
Elsewhere, Smith & Nephew was well supported after the US authorities gave the thumbs up to its new hip transplant treatment.
Just after market close, BAE Systems and VT Group ruled out making a bid for smaller rival Babcock.
Away from the blue chips fashion chain French Connection issued yet another profit warning, this time stating that it was materially reducing expectations for full year as sales continue to slide.
Rival online clothing retailer ASOS says sales are up 42% and profit expected to be not less than £1.6m in the year to March despite the explosion in Hemel Hempstead last December. This year so far sales are up 74% year-on-year.
Internet gaming group 888 says it has started 2006 well. Net gaming revenue in the first three months rose to $84m, an increase of 42%. Casino revenues increased 15% to $45m and poker income nearly doubled to $39m.
Investors bailed out of Armour after the in car entertainment firm said full year operating profits are now expected to be below current market expectations as the traditional Easter pick-up in the automotive market failed to materialise.
FTSE 100 - Risers
DSG International (DSGI) 207.75p +6.95%
Alliance UniChem (AUN) 930.00p +5.50%
Kazakhmys (KAZ) 1,329.00p +4.65%
Smith and Nephew (SN.) 460.00p +4.55%
Boots (BOOT) 731.50p +3.91%
British Airways (BAY) 351.25p +3.38%
Next (NXT) 1,766.00p +2.32%
Kingfisher (KGF) 243.50p +2.10%
Sainsbury (SBRY) 354.00p +2.09%
PartyGaming (PRTY) 151.00p +2.03%
FTSE 100 - Fallers
Old Mutual (OML) 193.25p -3.25%
Cairn Energy (CNE) 2,418.00p -2.50%
Rexam (REX) 521.00p -2.25%
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BT Group (BT.A) 216.25p -1.93%
BG Group (BG.) 742.00p -1.92%
Friends Provident (FP.) 191.25p -1.67%
Standard Chartered (STAN) 1,450.00p -1.63%
Rolls-Royce (RR.) 461.25p -1.49%
Amvescap (AVZ) 600.00p -1.48%
WPP (WPP) 681.50p -1.45%
FTSE 250 - Risers
iSOFT Group (IOT) 95.50p +4.66%
Northern Foods (NFDS) 97.75p +3.71%
Avis Europe (AVE) 75.50p +3.42%
easyJet (EZJ) 358.50p +3.02%
Hays (HAS) 177.50p +2.75%
Cambridge Antibody (CAT) 831.00p +2.72%
Enodis (ENO) 156.50p +2.29%
MyTravel Group 'A' Ord (MT.S) 243.00p +2.21%
Northgate (NTG) 1,112.00p +2.11%
JKX Oil & Gas (JKX) 411.00p +1.99%
FTSE 250 - Fallers
Dimension Data (DDT) 49.00p -7.11%
Savills (SVS) 1,375.00p -6.14%
Babcock International (BAB) 315.00p -5.19%
CLS Holdings (CLI) 556.00p -4.14%
SIG (SHI) 938.00p -3.94%
WS Atkins (ATK) 855.00p -3.88%
N Brown (BWNG) 223.00p -3.67%
BSS Group (BTSM) 348.75p -3.12%
Northgate Information Solutions (NIS) 81.00p -2.99%
Amlin (AML) 281.00p -2.68%
